4 An Unfamiliar Setting

Sunlight leaks right onto my face making me cover my eyes with my backhand. Maybe I had forgotten to close my curtains before I slept last night. And as I lay half-awake, I've been wondering why no one has barged in my room to wake me up so I can do my daily chores.

It sounds pretty peaceful right now. No loud booming noises of my aunties' daily quarrels to be heard from the other room. Instead, I can hear the sound of birds chirping loudly outside the window. There's a lot of birds.

I must have been in bed for so long now, which strikes me the question, why does it feel like I am laying on hardwood rather than my soft mattress. An old mattress, but it has comforted me more in years I've been alone.

My hand falls flat to my side, feeling the bed I'm on. Am I on a bed with no mattress? But where did my mattress go?

My eyes shot open, and I jolted up as I take in my surroundings. In fact, I'm not in my room. I'm in a tiny space that looked like a cottage.

How in the world did I end up here?

The cottage was empty, with rotting wood everywhere. The door and windows were busted open as if someone put in so much force to get in. Pieces of glass were still lying on the floor below the windows. But this cottage looks like it's been abandoned for years.

As I sit completely still trying to recall how I got here, it hits me. I took out the necklace that was tucked underneath the collar of my dress. I stare at it, inspecting it, waiting for something to happen as I touch it.

"Uh hello," I whisper, eyeing the object in my hand, "are you there?"

Was I seriously waiting for a reply?

I felt ridiculous. Why was I trying to communicate with an object or even think that there was a living being inside it? But I remember that it did glow crazily like it was magic. Did the necklace bring me here?

I probably hit my head pretty badly, causing me to lose my mind. Also, my entire body is aching, so maybe I really did hit the ground. I look up to check the ceiling but find that there was no hole big enough to fit my entire body.

Okay, I didn't fall from the sky.

Hold on; maybe I just ended up in the house's backyard. But I don't recall us having a cabin. My eyes shot towards the busted open door, squinting as the bright sun goes through every open space in the cabin.

From what I can see, there are- leaves, more leaves, and a tree? What was I doing sitting around? I need to go out and see for myself where I ended up.

At last, I finally had the strength to bring myself up. I'm still confused, but I'm curious with a hint of excitement about everything going on. If I do end up in another world, it wouldn't be so bad as long as I'm far away from my grandmother and aunties.

I step outside, feeling the warm sun on my skin. My hand was up trying to block the sunlight, for my eyes took a while to adjust to the sudden change of brightness.

Green trees everywhere; I was deep within a forest. The forest looks vast and unfamiliar; I've never been here. I have never been anywhere besides the house and the nearest market, so everything around me at the moment is new in my eyes. But I have to get going, so I could find nearby towns. Hopefully, there won't be any person eating animals around.

I start walking, taking the path in a random direction, hoping that I would find a town soon. My mind was still raging with so many questions; this all seems peculiar, although this forest's atmosphere is calm and peaceful like it's taking my fears away.

The smell of nature is refreshing; I would stay here and camp. But those thoughts aside, I have to find someone who could help me and tell me where I am.

I look around quietly, observing the setting while I walk when I hear the rustling of leaves behind me. I halt on my spot turning around to check, eyeing the round bushes when two bunnies hopped out of it. My nerves calmed, and I smile. It's been so long since I've seen bunnies.

I was staring at the bunnies in awe when I felt a tugging on the edge of my dress. My eyebrows knit together, turning around only to let out the most ear-piercing scream shooing nearby birds away.

Out of fright, I fall backward and on my bum, trying to get away from the creature that stood upon me. It stood in its terrifying presence, it was only a few inches taller than me, but it had a huge body made of rocks. It just stared at me as if it was surprising to see a human being.

A shiver went through my spine, my hand searches for the nearest object, and when I felt it, I threw it right at the creature. It only bounces off its shoulder.

"You'd throw a rock at a rock?"

And it speaks! It's a deep coarse voice, but it speaks!

"What are you?" I stutter from the fear I was feeling, staring at the creature with wide eyes. And from that moment, I knew that I wasn't in my hometown anymore; I may have ended up in a mythical world. The necklace has really brought me here to this world of unfamiliar creatures. I've never seen a creature like this, and if it couldn't get any weirder.

In the corner of my eyes, I spot colorful pointed hats. I gasp when I see that they were real-life elves—tiny little elves with big rounded eyes staring at me.

"Rose, is that really you-" the tiny elf with a green hat speaks up but was cut off by the rock creature.

"She looks different, no? I don't think it's our Rose."

Hold your horses. They know me. How did they know about me? Have I been here before? I don't think so. Are they even talking about me? All these questions seem impossible to be answered.

Last night my mother's necklace glowed, and I wake up to an abandoned cottage deep within the woods. Now creatures that I never knew existed stand in front of me, speaking in my language, conversing among themselves if I am the Rose they knew.

This is insane. I wonder if I hit my head hard enough that I'm starting to see things.